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Not that anyone is really holding me to the whole Food Friday thing, but I apologize for this being late.

Last night we lost a wonderful lady, Katrina Klee. She went home to be with the Lord at 11:30 in the evening surrounded by family and friends. She fought, with much courage, bone cancer for two years.

All five of her children are either in our youth ministry or serve on our youth staff in some capacity. The Klees are a precious family. When their oldest daughter Elisabeth texted us yesterday afternoon and told us that their mom only had hours, if she was lucky, days, to live, Brandon and I decided to get a sitter and drive the 2 hour trip to Stanford where she was being treated.

We are so glad that we did. Such a beautiful family, hurting, but trusting the Lord. Please pray for them, as they have a long road ahead of them…Katrina was the rock in that family, a lady of faith.

Anyway, I had all the pictures taken for this post, but just as I was about to put the post together, we got the text, so it obviously became less important!

This, again, is not really a recipe, but an idea that was inspired again, by my sister Pammy. Yes, she is the smart one in the family. HA

Pammy’s Trail Mix

You can really put anything you like in this. It’s just an assortment of dried fruits, nuts, and pretzel items…but one note I will make:

I find that you want to have an even mix of salty and un-salty. I actually rarely buy anything with salt on it as I try to watch sodium, but the last time I made this, everything was natural and salt free and the mix wasn’t that great. This time it was PERFECT! Here’s what I used {yes, I buy almost everything at Trader Joe’s! :)}:

1 bag of almonds

1 bag of roasted and lightly salted cashews

1 bag of unsalted peanut butter pretzels

1 bag of pretzel slims

1 bag of organic dried banana chips

1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips

several handfuls of craisins {I buy a giant bag from Costco, my son loves them plain!}

Using a glarge bowl, pour all the ingredients in…I love this picture, if you look closely you can see me and then Brandon taking pics…cute!

Using clean hands, of course, toss the mixture

Finish product….

I then put into ziploc bags for storage and then take little baggies of them to church and in my purse for when the kids get hungry. It’s a great nutritional snack that I can tailor to my own kids tastes. No more picking out all the stuff they don’t like!

I get one full gallon bag and a 3/4 full one…

And in closing…here are some more of my very sparse rose crop this year. These are Chicago Peace and Brandy {the apricot one}. These two are the exception to my “must have a fragrance rule”…they are too pretty and add too much color, so I allow them to stick around, even though they are pretty smell-less.

Lastly, I have a question for you all…how many of you buy Organic Milk? I was talking to my personal trainer/friend Emily about it the other day, so I broke down and bought a gallon of it. It was $2 more expensive!!! YIKES! Not really sure we can afford that in the long run, seeing how much milk we go through, but if it is drastically worth it, I will make the switch.

8 thoughts on “”

Your trail mix looks sooooo yummy!!! It's a great idea to make your own. I'll have to start doing that when Syd needs snacks like that.

As for the organic milk issue, here's a website that gives the facts as to the difference between organic and non-organic milk. I know the extra cost stinks but it's worth it in my book. I try to save in other areas (like making my own baby food) so that we can afford organic milk and chicken.

we buy all organic dairy products. i usually buy organic valley brand…i just love what i read on their website. and it tastes good. TJ's organic milk is good too though. I don't recommend ever buying a generic brand organic milk though…i've tried a couple because they are cheaper, but they have a funny taste and spoil a lot quicker.

we are just getting ready to go be with chad's grandma today, her first day in a hospice care facility. just a little over a year of his dad passing from cancer, his grandma was just diagnosed. she needs us, but it will be like ripping off a bandaid of hurt and loss from not so long ago. i am so happy you were there for your friends as they suffered their loss. that is beautiful.

on another note, that trail mix looks delicious and i love the first photo where you can see both brandon and your reflections in the bowl! too cute! love that he takes the pictures while you go to work!

Wow, thanks Emily, Cheyenne and Jaime regarding the organic milk! There ARE a lot of things to consider. Good grief! I had no idea, Cheyenne, that different organic milk can taste differently. I always get the kids soy since Jake was allergic to milk as a kid {since grown out of that}…wonder if any of you ever tasted Kikland's brand organic anything? I bought their soy and wasn't really pleased with the taste. Cheyenne, I hadn't thought about it until now!

Susan: I am ashamed to say that the "pretty" bowl is actually a cheapy from Target and it is my giant mixing bowl. I use it for whipping up large batches of anything. I never really use it display things in because if you look closely {didn't come up in the pics} its pretty dented and stratched up. I someday hope to own a nice large Tupperware set of plastic bowls…someday.

Thank you also for your prayers Susan!

Jenni…wow. I am sooo sorry!! I will be praying for you! That has got to be tough. Hang in there!! and that fudge recipe looks awesome! I am going to try it for sure this fall, I have never found a good fudge recipe that I was happy with. Can't wait to try it!!

Amy, yummy looking trail mix! I've often thought to make my own but I guess I'm too lazy

As far as milk, we have gone raw! I know a lot of people are scared of the idea of going non-pasturized, but the health benefits are out of this world! My kids never get flu shots, and are rarely sick. I think this helps. To top it off, my hubby tends to be lactose intolerant but he can drink raw milk. The allergies that come with milk are a result of the pasturization…raw milk doesn't cause an allergic reaction. It costs more….much more…so we use it for drinking only. I use "normal" milk for cooking etc. But it works for us